Computer networks often include and/or connect to a large number and variety of devices, including without limitation switches, routers, client workstations, servers, firewalls, concentrators, power supplies, etc. Furthermore, these devices are frequently designed and manufactured by different companies. Nevertheless, it is advantageous to manage and monitor the wide variety of devices using a central management station.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a UDP-based network protocol used to monitor network-attached devices for various operational characteristics. In one implementation, SNMP can be used to monitor performance of individual devices in a network, and more particularly, individual components of those devices. For example, SNMP can be used to monitor the temperature of a central processing unit (CPU) or the humidity within a computer chassis. However, as networks continue to scale in size, SNMP management of large, diverse networks requires onerous manual configuration operations—one performance monitoring data collector is manually configured for each individually monitored performance parameter on each monitored device or component thereof. Understandably, as networks continue to scale, the process of managing performance monitoring operations in such networks becomes overwhelming.